


Betrayal/Forgiveness

by ConeyIslandBlitz



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Daylighter Alec, M/M, OOC Alec, Simon gets mentioned a couple of times but appears like once, old habits die hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 00:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12023973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConeyIslandBlitz/pseuds/ConeyIslandBlitz
Summary: In short: Alec Lightwood becomes a Downworlder.After a mission with Jace goes terribly wrong, this story really centres around Alec's adaptation to a massive change in his life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OK guys. I did another one. 
> 
> It's only short, 3 chapters and an epilogue, but I hope y'all like it. If it feels rushed I do apologise, I tried to make this as long as I could.
> 
> Also, I'd like to give a shoutout to the Twitter user @itsYaraSket because I think I yoinked one of her concepts for this. Sorry Yara. You inspire me so much.

"Jace, I have a mission for us," Alec said, swanning into his parabatai's quarters without knocking.  
"What is it?" Jace asked, barely hiding his annoyance at the intrusion.  
"There have been reports of rogue activity from the vampires at Hotel DuMort. I sent Izzy to talk to Raphael about it, figured it wise to use their relationship to our advantage, but he claims to know nothing of it," Alec explained.  
"So what does that mean; we gotta go there and investigate?" Jace asked for clarity.  
"Yep. Gear up, we leave in an hour," Alec instructed.

Once Alec and Jace were ready to go, they came across Clary, who was looking for Alec.  
"Hey Alec, I've finished the report on the Seelie mission from the other day," she said.  
"Great. Leave it on my desk in my office, I'll read it when I get back," he replied, briefly putting a hand to her shoulder in a friendly gesture as he made to leave with Jace, and Clary did as instructed.

As Jace and Alec were on their way to Hotel DuMort, they were discussing the finer details of the mission.  
"So what precisely is it we have to do?" Jace asked.  
"It's just an investigatory mission; the gear and weapons are just in case it doesn't go so smoothly," Alec explained.  
"Do you think we'll need back-up?"  
"I highly doubt we'll need it, but should the mission go south, then we'll call," Alec said.  
"OK. Who are you and what have you done to my parabatai?" Jace joked, which elicited a laugh from Alec.  
"Come on Jace, it's not like the vampires would be stupid enough to attack us; that's not what we're there for," Alec reassured him.

  
They made their way into the Hotel, and Nephilim instinct told them to have their weapons at the ready. So far, nothing suspicious. Alec motioned to Jace that they should split up in order to cover more ground. As Alec reached the lobby, he was attacked from behind and pushed to the ground. He dropped his bow and arrow on the way down. He tried to reach for them but his attacker had turned him over so they were face to face. The vampire had bitten his own wrist so blood was flowing, blood for forcing Alec to drink. Alec had managed to fight the vampire off but he'd already ingested the vampire's blood. Knowing that this particular vampire's mission was accomplished, he ran for cover while Alec picked up his bow and arrow and made to shoot. He missed. That very moment, a new wave of vampires had emerged and came at Alec all at once. He shot all the arrows he had on him, killing each vampire he hit, but it still wasn't enough. He realised quickly that he needed back-up, but with that felt like the entire clan clamouring to get a piece of him, he was preoccupied with fighting as many of them off as he could. He called for Jace every chance he got, but Jace never showed. 'Damnit, why don't we have a Telepathy rune?!' Alec thought to himself in exasperation. He managed to escape the crowd, but only briefly. One of the vampires pulled Alec back and he was overwhelmed. He struggled with all his might, but as the last Plantagenet king did, he fell fighting bravely amongst the thick of his enemies.

Once the vampires had won, they all scattered, one of them announcing that they'd share the news with their leader Raphael, thinking he'd be pleased. On the contrary. He was furious. That's the leader of the New York Institute you just killed, you idiot, Raphael would say. Alec Lightwood was not to be harmed under any circumstances.  
Finally Jace got free of his makeshift prison, having felt the pain of Alec's death through their shared parabatai rune, which had now vanished. But he'd only believe it when he saw it. He eventually found his parabatai, bloody and lifeless on the lobby floor. He fell to his knees and sobbed.  
"Älec, I'm so sorry," he wept, all the while cradling Alec's body. Raphael eventually returned to the Hotel. He appeared remorseful.  
"This was never meant to happen," Raphael said after a long silence. Jace appeared not to hear him, drowning in his own guilt, grief and regret.  
"The vampire who reported to me also mentioned that another one of my clan had made Alec drink from him. That makes Alec a fledgling," Raphael explained, crouching down next to Jace. This caught Jace's attention. The delirium that bereavement puts one under, makes one rather desperate for any plausible solution to such a grave problem. Jace just wanted Alec back. He turned to face Raphael, who'd had a tremendous respect for Alec's attempts at getting Shadowhunters and Downworlders co-operating as equals.  
"Fledgling? That means... he can come back?"  
"As a vampire, but yes. He can rise again. You do have to bury him soon, however."  
Jace thought for a moment.  
"I need to call Magnus," Jace realised.  
"I'll do that. You need time to decide what to do with him," Raphael said, nodding his head at Alec as he got up. He got his phone from his blazer pocket and went to th next room to tell Magnus the bad news.  
"Alec, if you can hear me, I'm so sorry I never came. I heard you call my name, but I was trapped... I need to call Izzy." Jace grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket and called his sister.  
"Izzy... it's Jace."  
"Jace... what's wrong? What happened?" Izzy knew by the sound of Jace's voice to worry.  
"It's... it's Alec, Iz. He's... uh..." Jace couldn't bring himself to say the word 'dead', but he didn't need to. Over the phone he could hear Izzy scream and break down in tears. He also heard Clary come over to Isabelle and wept with her in a sisterly embrace. All of this made Jace cry even harder than he already was, and eventually Izzy pickd up her phone again.  
"Do you know if he drank from one of them?" she asked, trying to keep her voice stable.  
"Raphael says he did, so we could have him back."  
"Jace, we can't do this for us," Clary chimed in, taking the phone from Isabelle, "I know this from experience, if we bring him back, we have to do it for him. And Magnus," she said.  
"Noted. Uh, Raphael's back, I'll keep you posted," Jace said before hanging up. Raphael stopped at a doorway.  
"Magnus said only two words: Bury him," Raphael said, matter-of-factly. Jace nodded.  
"Then it's decided," Jace said.

The moment it went dark, Jace and Raphael took Alec to the nearest cemetery. Jace set Alec down to the ground and began digging. In the meantime, Raphael ran back to the Hotel to grab Alec a snack for when he would rise.  
Once Jace was done, Raphael was about to pick Alec up when a clearly-bereft Magnus Portaled in. The usually-colourful warlock was dressed in his finest white tuxedo, following the Shadowhunter tradition for funeral wear.  
"Let me do this," Magnis said somberly. He paced carefully towards his Nephilim lover, kneeled at his side and gave him a farewell kiss. "You never wanted immortality, my dearest Alexander," Magnus began, "I was okay with that. But now it's been so cruelly thrust upon you, I hope you find it in your heart to forgive all who've wronged you in this life. That, plus, it means you and I have eternity together. Aku cinta kamu, Alexander," Magnus finished, brushing a tear from his eye as he used his magic to gently lower Alec into his grave, and bury him.

The Shadowhunter, the vampire and the warlock all waited patiently at Alec's grave for the moment when this fallen angel shall rise again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This all becomes a bit much for Alec to take in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the first chapter, here's the next one!

The three companions had fallen asleep but were woken by a rumble deep in the ground. Jace, being the Shadowhunter he is, grabbed his serpah blade and had it at the ready out of pure instinct. He then saw quickly that it was just Alec rising from his grave and so he made to put his seraph blade away. Raphael reached into his blazer pocket and grabbed the blood bags he'd fetched earlier.  
  
Alec was completely out of his grave now, and Magnus was holding Jace back, who desperately wanted to go over to Alec and hug the living daylights out of the guy, completely forgetting that when newborn vampires emerge, they emerge extremely hungry. Raphael, also wisely keeping his distance, threw the blood bags over to Alec, who snatched them up, tore into them and downed the contents as though he were a man in the desert who;d just reached an oasis.  
Once the hunger was satisfied and he'd come to from this frenzy, Alec looked up at his companions, still kneeling on the ground. The emotions that were flooding his entire being were hard to control.  
"What's going on?" he said finally.  
"We were... we were on a mission, Alec. It went horribly wrong and we got separated. You got killed, and, uh... here we are," Jace explained.  
"How? How did I become a vampire?" Alec asked, trying with all his might to keep his cool. One might think he were being unnervingly calm in comparison to Simon Lewis' rebirth.  
"One of my vampires tells me he managed to make you drink his blood," Raphael answered. Alec looked at Magnus wearing white, and couldn't help but smile a very fanged smile. No matter what, he loved Magnus with all his heart and he was touched that he'd keep with Shadowhunter tradition despite Alec no longer being a Shadowhunter. Magnus smiled back, amused by the showing fangs, and walked carefully over to Alec, kneeling down beside him and put a loving, reassuring hand to Alec's cheek. Alec stroked the warlock's hand and fought back the urge to cry it all out right there and then. He also knew that. right now, hugging Magnus would be dangerous. Yet he craved it so much.  
"I heard what you said to me before you buried me, and if I recall correctly I said I hadn't decided yet if I wanted immortality," Alec finally said. Magnus gave a small chuckle. Raphael and Jace were still there, they'd realised. Magnus got up to his feet, brushing the dirt off his knees and offered Alec a hand to help him up, which he accepted. Jace was feeling quite nervous because Alec appeared so calm. Truth be told though, Alec was just barely holding it together. The emotions running through him were beginning to take control and in order to keep them from spilling out, he kept quiet.  
  
"So what happens now? I can't just go back to the Institute," Alec finally said.  
"Well you could come to the DuMort with me as all newborn vampires should, or you head back with Magnus," Raphael suggested. 'There's so much I need to get off my chest, but I'll only say it to you, because I need someone I can trust to help me wrap my head around all of this,' Alec thought, looking at Magnus as though to direct these thoughts at him. Magnus looked right back at him, and nodded.  
"I'll bring him back with me, if that's alright?" Magnus said on Alec's behalf, seeing that Alec was just barely keeping himself from having the biggest panic attack of his life. Magnus put a reassuring arm around Alec and said to him, "Come on, let's go home," before opening a Portal right back to his loft for himself and Alec to pass through.

It was at that moment when Jace exhaled a massive sigh of relief. Empathic contagion was still a bitch, parabatai or no parabatai. All he said to Raphael was, "I'd better get back to the Institute. This is a mess."  
"I'm sorry I wasn't more helpful. I don't know what's come over my vampires, I honestly don't. It's like they're beginning to doubt my leadership," Raphael explained, "I said this to Isabelle too, but I guess part of the message got lost in transit."  
"I guess so," Jace agreed.  
"When that vamp told me it was Alec, I was furious. I told my clan he wasn't to be harmed. And now... this."  
"Yeah, well. Still gotta report this to the Clave. You do your bit, I do mine, job's done," Jace said, offering Raphael a handshake before he left. Raphael accepted and made his own way back to the DuMort to take care of this messy business.

 

The moment Alec and Magnus were behind closed doors, Alec let go completely. He was breathing more erratically, he was shaking, he was pacing up and down and he couldn't decide whether to throw something at a wall or just collapse and break down and cry. This behaviour was making Magnus nervous, though Alec never meant for it to. He saw how Magnus was keeping his distance, and right now all he needed was for Magnus to hold him and tell him everything was gonna be okay. They looked one another in the eye and Alec just broke. He slumped down onto the couch and sobbed his now-still heart out. Magnus made to sit next to Alec and comfort him; he didn't care about getting blood on his white tux at this point, it was already stained with soil. Magnus just held his boyfriend real tight, stroking his hair and whispering to him as soothingly as he could, 'everything is gonna be okay' until Alec was at least a little bit hysterical. He didn't realise he was swaying with Alec at the same time. He quickly used his magic to lightproof the loft as best he could so Alec wouldn't become toast the next morning.

Once Alec was a bit calmer, he said, "What does 'aku cinta kamu' mean, by the way?" all the while, still holding Mangus. Right now, Magnus was his anchor. He was not letting go.  
"It means 'I love you' in Indonesian," Magnus answered, "You really heard that?"  
"I don't know how, but yes. I did," Alec said, still holding onto his beloved warlock. He saw the state of Magnus' tux and sighed an exasperated sigh. 'I cry blood now?' was his initial thought. He made to wipe any further tears from his eyes and saw that yes, he cries blood now. Magnus looked at him, amused at this train of thought.  
"Come on, Alexander, Even vampires need sleep. Let's go to bed," Magnus suggested. Alec gladly obliged. With a flick of the wrist Alec was clean of all that soil and in his nightwear, as was Magnus. They climbed into bed together and it didn't take long for either of them to fall asleep. At that moment, nothing mattered. Alec Lightwood was in bed having snuggle snacks with his boyfriend and life was good. He felt peaceful for the first time since he rose from the grave.

That is, until he was actually asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, for any and all feedback hit me up on Twitter at @ConeyIsleBlitz


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brief moment of Jalec angst but it gets resolved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeek! Thanks for sticking with me thus far, this is the last chapter of the story, I hope you enjoy!! This is the thing I kinda yoinked from Yara, the proposal!

Magnus was rudely awoken by a knock on the front door. A rather persistent knock at that. He mustered all of his strength to get out of bed, trying not to wake Alec in the process, threw on a robe and answered the door.  
"Jace, what brings you here?" Magnus asked, somewhat groggily.  
"I, uh, need to talk to Alec," Jace said nervously.  
"He's asleep right now, but I'll let him know you came. I daren't wake him right now. I'll call you when he does," Magnus said, in an attempt to dismiss Jace, but Alec had already emerged.

Alec took one look at Jace and didn't even try not to Hades out on his former parabatai. He came at Jace with his new vampiric super speed, grabbed him by the leather jacket and slammed him with his new vampiric super strength against the wall.  
"When were you gonna tell me that you betrayed our bond?!" Alec asked angrily.  
"I'm sorry, Alec, I really am-"  
"I called you, Jace! I called you so many times and you never came to help me!" Alec had raised his voice, slamming Jace into the wall a couple more times.  
"Alexander-"  
"This is between me and Jace," Alec snapped at Magnus in his fiery rage, his fangs showing. He turned to face Jace again, who wasn't even trying to fight back.  
"Alec, I tried to come to you... I was trapped, I couldn't find my way out. One of the vampires must have locked me into a room, I couldn't get out-"  
"DON'T LIE TO ME!!"  
"I swear on the Angel, Alec. I'm telling you the truth. I'm so sorry," Jace apologised again, tearily.  
"Not as sorry as I'm about to be," Alec said, realising that ok, actually, he was rather peckish. He pulled Jace's head to the side by his hair anmd sunk his fangs into his former parabatai's neck. Magnus didn't hesitate this time and pulled Alec off of Jace, who then fell to the floor.  
"At least now you can walk in the sun," Jace said faintly, before passing out from blood loss. Alec got free of Magnus, and briefly wondered what Jace meant by that before putting two and two together. 'Oh yeah, he fed Simon,' he thought to himself. He looked at Magnus.  
"I didn't want it to happen this way, Magnus. I didn't want to be immortal just yet. And definitely not like this," Alec said. Magnus had picked up on the imperative words.  
"'Just yet', Alexander?" Magnus inquired.  
"Yeah... I was hoping that we'd have been together a few more years... that I'd have had a longer run as Head of the Institute... look, when Shadowhunters find someone, it's usually for life... And, I dunno, maybe I wanted to get married first-"  
"So you were just... waiting for the right time?" Magnus asked, his heart filling with joy, taking Alec's hands into his own.  
"Yeah. Um, we should take care of Jace before he bleeds out," Alec said, quickly planting a kiss on Magnus's hands which were holding his own. They then moved to get Jace onto a couch. Magnus used his magic to heal Jace's bite wounds. Once that was done, the two immortal lovebirds allowed him to get some rest on that very couch.

 

Alec called his sister and Clary over, and, since they were eager to see him, they dropped everything they were doing and went straight to Magnus' loft.  
There was a knock on the door.  
"Alec, you're okay!" Isabelle cried, hugging him like she hadn't seen him in forever.  
"Well technically, I'm undead, but yeah, I'm okay," Alec replied, like a smartass. Clary chuckled as she put a friendly hand on Alec's arm. She then caught sight of Jace on the couch. She rushed to him.  
"Oh my God, is Jace okay?" she asked, "Alec, did you bite him?"  
Alec awkwardly let go of Isabelle as he remembered, 'Oh, crap... I did bite Jace.'"  
"Look... I was hungry, and I was pissed off-"  
"You were hangry? At Jace?"  
"Yeah... It's to do with the mission that killed me. I thought he deliberately betrayed the bond-" Alec started to explain when Isabelle hit him on the arm in Jace's defence, saying, "You know Jace would never do that to you!"  
  


Jace heard the commotion around him and chimed in, "It's okay, Izzy. I deserved it." He was immediately glomped by Clary, who kissed him passionately. Izzy then went over to him to give him a big hug, relieved that he was okay after all. Alec was still feeling guilty about feeding on his former parabatai so he kept his distance. Jace found the energy to get up after being hugged everywhither, walked over to Alec and offered a hand, which Alec accepted.  
"That was kinda hot by the way," Jace joked.  
"Et tu, Jace? That was not hot. I could have killed you."  
"I'd have let you. Have you tried standing in the sun yet?" Jace inquired, having let go of the handshake.  
"No, I haven't. I highly doubt it would take effect so quickly, anyway."  
"It did with Simon," Jace said. Alec gave a look that said, 'Fine, you win. Again.'  
"It's a shame there's no way I cou;d have become a warlock," Alec muttered to himself as he made his way to the balcony.  
"Yeah, it's not like it'll be as easy as mixing an elixir like on The Sims," Clary agreed. No-one understood that reference, and clearly everyone had forgotten that Clary was raised as a mundane for her own protection.  
"It's not... You can't 'become' a warlock. You have to be born that way. Of all the Downworlders, the only ones you can 'become' are a werewolf and a vampire," Magnus explained. Alec opened the curtains hesitantly and found that indeed, Jace was right. Alec had only been a vampire for like a day and he's already a Daylighter. Magnus saw the sun kissing Alec's neck and found that he'd missed the Deflect rune that had occupied it just 48 hours prior. Alec saw that everyone was staring. He eventually broke the silence.  
  
"But... we still have a bigger problem. Who's gonna run the Institute? I can't still do it, the Clave must already know by now that I've become a vampire. Jace, you said yourself you're a soldier. Izzy, you're busy tutoring Max. Clary..."  
"Clary staged that ambush against you when you were taking Meliorn to the City of Bones, and she got vampires and werewolves to work together for it," Jace said.  
"Really? That was you?" Alec said, full of surprise at Clary.  
"Don't give me too much credit," she said modestly.  
"I have an idea. What if Jace takes over tutoring Max so I can take over running the Institute?" Isabelle suggested. To be honest, Alec was leaning towards keeping the Institute in Lightwood hands.  
"Are you sure about this, Iz?" Alec asked, not wanting to doubt her leadership skills.  
"Yes. I can always ask you or Clary for help and advice if I need it," Isabelle reassured him.  
"I believe that settles it," Magnus chimed in.  
"I believe so too. Isabelle Sophia Lightwood, I hereby name you the new Head of the New York Institute," Alec said with a smile on his face. There was a cheer all around and Magnus conjured up drinks for everyone in their private celebration.

 

Once all the Shadowhunters had left to attend to their business at the Institute, Alec and Magnus were glad to have their safe space back. Alec was basking in the sunset on the balcony, relieved to not have to miss this thanks to Jace.  
"Magnus... I feel like such a bad person."  
"What? Alexander, what is this about? What's going on in that head of yours?" Magnus said, following Alec onto the balcony.  
"It's just... I feel like I should be angrier that this has happened to me. I should be angrier at losing my bond with Jace, at losing my job as Head of the Institute, at losing my mortality..." Alec broke off, as he felt Magnus put his own hand atop Alec's, "But instead... I finally feel... free. Free of Jace. Free of the Clave. Free of, well, everything," Alec gave a deep sigh, relieved to be able to tell someone.  
"That doesn't make you a bad person, Alexander," Magnus reassured him. Alec looked down at the Lightwood family ring he was fidgeting with in his free hand. 'Now or never', he thought to himself.  
"And here I was, afraid that the only perquisite of being immortal was that I get to spend eternity with you," Alec said. He turned to Magnus and went down on one knee. Magnus was stunned.  
"Magnus Bane..." Alec fought back tears, "would you do me the honour of marrying me, Alec Lightwood?"  
  
Magnus didn't know what to say. So what he did was take the Lightwood ring that Alec presented to him, and put it on his own ring finger. In turn, he removed his 'M' ring and placed it onto Alec's ring finger. He only then managed to say, "Yes. I'll marry you," pulled Alec towards him and moved in to kiss his now vampire fiancé on the lips, with a gentle passion that was not to be surpassed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what to do. Twitter: @ConeyIsleBlitz


	4. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very short epilogue, imagined as a sort of montage of what happened next at the end of one of those "based on a true story" movies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really short. Concepts have been yoinked from Twitter users everywhither so if you recognise an idea as yours, I say thank you for the idea and credit to you because I can't remember all usernames. xD

Isabelle had learned to grow into her new role as Head of the New York Institute. She carried on where Alec left off, with the Cabinet meetings with all Downworld leaders. Of course, she also used this as the perfect excuse to catch up with him. Wherever Magnus went, Alec went too. She'd given him unlimited irrevocable access to the Institute and allowed him to train with other Shadowhunters, as a way of giving them a heads-up on how to face rogue vampires. 'Always use your current situation to your advantage,' was the general idea that the Lightwood siblings had. Alec appreciated it though; it meant he could keep up old habits, but he couldn't use seraph blades any more. He did miss that. For the rest though, he was content with the arrangements that had been made for him. As free as he was, he still missed that routine. He even sparred with Magnus from time to time, because let's not forget they fought well as a team even before they officially met.

The wedding was nothing short of exquisite. Keeping with Shadowhunter tradition, both grooms wore gold. Before making their vows, Magnus had to remind Alec to breathe, as a sort of inside joke referring to the last time Alec tried to get married. They'd decided on an outdoor wedding, really milking the fact that Alec was a Daylighter, in the prettiest part of Central Park they could find. The décor was themed cobalt blue and ivory, and all Shadowhunters and Downworlders were invited. Naturally the vampires didn't show, except Raphael for the after party at Magnus' loft that evening, and Simon who was able to witness what was a most beautiful ceremony.

Alec took his immortality as a chance to really cherish the time he still had with his mortal family. It was indeed bittersweet to see them all grow, find new loves, get married, have kids, and eventually age, and die while he and Magnus were frozen together like a photograph, but the legacies they all left behind, the fact that Downworlders and Shadowhunters were finally made equals by law, and also that Shadowhunter/Downworlder marriage was made legal thanks to a complete reform of the Clave - meaning, more open-minded Shadowhunters took the wheel at long last - it was all worth it. Alec knew then that what he started mattered. He was proud of what the Shadowhunters after him had achieved in his honour.

That, and of course marrying the love of his life, was all worth the tremendous sacrifice he'd unwittingly made in that one botched mission with his ex-parabatai Jace Herondale.

 

Finito

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it. That's the story in full. I know I made y'all wait for this tiny tidbit but I had no time to publish it alongside the rest; real life got in the way. Sorry guys. I hope you like this.

**Author's Note:**

> Well? What did you think? Yay, nay, maybay? Drop a comment below or hit me up on Twitter at @ElderHoTan with any and all feedback. Thanks for reading!!


End file.
